Trusts & Estates

Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory (Miller & Oberdiek eds.) — Call for Papers

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Oxford University Press is pleased to announce the launch of Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory, edited by Paul Miller (Notre Dame) and John Oberdiek (Rutgers), and to issue a call for papers for the first volume.  Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory is a series of biennial volumes showcasing the best article-length work across private law … Read more

In Trust We Trust — Yonathan Arbel

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Post by Yonathan Arbel

The recent leak of the Panama Papers exposed the public to the magnitude of assets held in offshore accounts. These accounts are often associated with motives such as tax evasion and asset shielding from creditors, although they may be more legitimate motives to locating one’s assets offshore, such as privacy or preference for the rules of a specific legal system.  The estimates of how much is stowed offshore vary significantly, from one to five trillion dollars, an interval so large that it mostly reveals our ignorance. We simply know too little about these accounts, their motives, structures, and value—which, from the viewpoint of those who designed these trusts, is a feature, not a bug.  The most comprehensive work to date on the topic is that of Professors Sitkoff and Schanzenbach, who studied U.S. institutional trustees. However, these trustees are not likely representative of offshore trusts, and so, our understanding of offshore trusts is still foggy.

In a new intriguing paper, forthcoming in the Hastings Law Journal, Adam Hofri-Winogradow is providing us with a glimpse into the clandestine world of onshore and offshore trusts.  Hofri used a combined qualitative methodology of surveying and interviewing providers of trust services. Overall, he surveyed 409 providers of trust services and interviewed 25. Of his many findings, I will highlight just a few.

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Social Perception of Testamentary Capacity — Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

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Post by Tess Wilkinson-Ryan I am teaching Trusts and Estates this semester, and we are currently covering standards for testamentary capacity. As a psychologist, I have a passing interest in cognitive ability and disability, but even moreso an interest in perceptions of capacity. A nice example of a case about social perceptions of mental health is … Read more

Private Law in the Digital Age – Dan Kelly

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Post by Dan Kelly

Private law aficionados enjoy teaching, and discussing, many of the classic common law cases, Hawkins v. McGee (in contracts), Pierson v. Post (in property), and Vosburg v. Putney (in torts).  But, of course, private law is still relevant for, and able to provide insights into, new legal issues emerging in the twenty-first century.  One of these issues is fiduciary access to digital assets.

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Can We Contract For Fiduciary Loyalty? – Andrew Gold

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Post by Andrew Gold

Some of the more interesting puzzles in private law involve the boundaries between subfields.  Here is a recent example that implicates contract law and fiduciary law.  In 2013, the Delaware Supreme Court expressly recognized a contractually created fiduciary duty of good faith.  See Gerber v. Enterprise Products Holdings, LLC, 67 A.3d 400, 418 (Del. 2013).  From different perspectives, several theorists have recently argued that there are qualitative differences between contractual and fiduciary duties.  See Daniel Markovits, Sharing Ex Ante and Sharing Ex Post: The Non-Contractual Basis of Fiduciary Relations, in Philosophical Foundations of Fiduciary Law 209 (Gold & Miller, eds.) (2014); Stephen R. Galoob & Ethan J. Leib, Intentions, Compliance, and Fiduciary Obligations, 20 Legal Theory 106 (2014).  See also D. Gordon Smith, Contractually Adopted Fiduciary Duty, 2014 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1783, 1792 (arguing that a duty arising from the language of a contract should be considered a contractual duty).  Which view is right?

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Private Law Consortium, Day 1

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Post by Janet Freilich

 

On July 6-7, McGill University’s Faculty of Law and Center for Intellectual Property Policy hosted the Third Annual Private Law Consortium, organized by David Lametti. Participants at the Consortium came from Bar-Ilan University, Harvard University, McGill University, the University of Oslo, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Trento. The Consortium spanned a wide variety of private law topics, including property, torts, contracts, and intellectual property.

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“Taking Turns”: Common Solution, Unusual Remedy — Dan Kelly

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Post by Dan Kelly

To facilitate coordination and mitigate conflicts, a common solution in everyday life is the idea of taking turns.  If two siblings or children are fighting over a toy (say, a ball or doll), a parent or teacher may suggest taking turns.  If drivers are exiting a crowded parking lot after work, church, or a ballgame, the implicit norm is to take turns.  Yet, this strategy of taking turns has received relatively little attention in law and the social sciences.

In “Taking Turns” (forthcoming Florida State University Law Review), Ronen Perry (Haifa) and Tal Z. Zarsky (Haifa) examine turn taking from both a fairness and efficiency perspective.  Their lead example is from a trusts and estates case, In re McDowell, 345 N.Y.S. 2d 828 (Sur. Ct. N.Y. 1973):

Two siblings jointly inherit their late father’s rocking chair. The chair has principally sentimental and no real economic value; it cannot be physically divided between them, and selling it to distribute the proceeds will compensate neither for the sentimental loss. What, then, should become of the disputed property? In a self-confessed “strange” decision in the McDowell case, the Surrogate’s Court of New York ordered that the two siblings take possession of the chair alternately for six-month periods; and that when one passed away, the other would obtain exclusive possession.

Are there other examples of turn taking in law and legal institutions, particularly private law?  Given the prevalence of turn taking as an informal solution to coordination problems, why does the formal law not embrace taking turns more frequently when it comes to remedies? 

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